On a cold Tuesday morning of June 5, Belita Chikumba of Mangulenje Village in Zomba woke up her 13-year-old son Madalitso Nayuma to go to school.<\/p>\n
Little did she know that this was the last time she was seeing her son alive. Madalisto was among the four children that tragically died instantly when a classroom wall fell on them at Nantchengwa Primary school.<\/p>\n
He died with three others; Jenifer Bonongwe aged 11 years old, 10 year old Gift Mwanyada and Tisunge Francisco who was12 years old.<\/p>\n
Seventeen others were injured and admitted at Zomba Central Hospital.<\/p>\n
When we visited the community last week, the four mothers of the children were distraught.<\/p>\n
They broke into tears when we separately asked them how they were coping after the loss.<\/p>\n
Brazio Liviyele, the head teacher of the school is still in shock.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first it was two who died but by the time I came from Mayaka Police Station to report the accident, I found that the number had risen to 4. It was terrible, their friends will for a long time be afraid to come to school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The tragic accident surprised many but it was obvious the substandard structure was an accident waiting to happen.<\/p>\n
After inspecting the collapsed structure, the department of Disaster Management Affairs agreed that the building was badly substandard.<\/p>\n
Paul Kalilombe, Director of Response and Recovery, said the structure was not fit for habitation.<\/p>\n
Mud was used instead of cement in the construction, too risky for the learners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have clear standards which have to be followed when constructing such buildings. Of course we need to investigate to find out exactly what happened but on the look of things, it is clear that the building was not constructed following such standards,\u201d said Kalilombe<\/p>\n
In a country where the education sector is almost collapsing and communities do not get much help from authorities, the Constituency Development Fund, District Development Fund and Local Development Fund cannot guarantee good learning environments, it is not surprising that the four children died.<\/p>\n
Lucuis Namanya is another parent that lost a child in the tragedy. His wife cries everyday even the day we wanted to interview her, she could not compose herself. Lucius is also in pain but took time to explain why they took it upon themselves to build a classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school blocks are not enough to cater for all the pupils. That is why we constructed the classroom using whatever materials we could find. We did not want our children to learn under the trees,\u201d said Namanya.<\/p>\n
The tragic death of the children is a clear testimony of what happens when a government no longer cares while corruption and inefficiencies become the order of the day.<\/p>\n
Civil Society Education Coalition Executive Director, Benedicto Kondowe, says the Nantchengwa accident is a manifestation of government\u2019s failure to respect the right to education.<\/p>\n
Kondowe says the four innocent lives could have been saved if the country reworked its priorities and provided safe learning environment to the learners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe country is pumping a lot of money in not very important areas. We can reduce money from the K5 billion meant for tree planting exercise for the youth or the Malata Subsidy and channel the money towards provision of safe learning environment for the our children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The disaster took place at Mayaka, some 40 kilometers from Zomba.<\/p>\n
There is a shortage of 54,000 classrooms in the country and if nothing much is done to bridge the gap, this accident will happen again somewhere in Malawi.<\/p>\n
Namatapa Primary School, a few kilometres from Nantchengwa Primary School is another accident in the waiting.<\/p>\n
Some of the pupils at Namatapa Primary School are learning in substandard structures due to the same problem of inadequate classrooms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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